A second attempt to get Jose Zepeda and Ivan Baranchyk in the ring now serves as the tablesetter for an October to remember.

The pair of junior welterweights are now officially set to collide on October 3, live on ESPN+ from the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout was formally announced on Tuesday by Top Rank, as part of a massive five-week stretch of events airing on ESPN platforms.

This particular matchup comes three months after their previously scheduled July 7 ESPN headliner. Baranchyk was forced to withdraw due to a rib injury suffered late in training camp. Zepeda (32-2, 25KOs; 2NC) remained on the telecast, scoring a ten-round decision win over Kendo Castaneda.

Less than three months later comes a new fight date along with increased stakes—the winner will become the number-one contender to reigning unified WBC/WBO junior welterweight titlist Jose Ramirez (26-0, 17KOs).

“At this point I believe I deserve a title shot and a win against Baranchyk will cement just that,” Zepeda told BoxingScene.com of the rescheduled contest.”

Both career losses for Zepeda came in title challenges, interesting carrying bad luck on each occasion as well as the immediate aftermath. The La Puente, California-based contender suffered a freak shoulder two rounds into his July 2015 challenge of then-unbeaten lightweight titlist Terry Flanagan on the road in Manchester, England. Four months later came a truncated attempt at a bounceback fight, when a clash of heads ended his October 2015 bout with Jose Alfaro after just one round.

A seven-fight win streak followed leading into his title challenge of Ramirez last February. Zepeda once again hit the road, traveling to Fresno where he came up just short in a 12-round majority decision which many observers felt could have gone his way. Three months later, Zepeda once again saw an attempt to return to the win column end in a No-Contest, as a clash of heads ended his May 2015 bout with Eleazer Valenzuela after three rounds.

Two wins have since followed, including a 10-round decision win over former two-division titlist Jose Pedraza last September in Las Vegas.

Baranchyk (20-1 13KOs) still awaits his first fight of 2020 while angling for a second title run.

The 27-year old Belarusian—originally from Russia but who now fights out of Miami, Oklahoma—well proved his worth on his rise to contention. Baranchyk arrived at the title stage armed with an 18-0 record on the strength of wins over six unbeaten opponents as well as convincing victories over Abel Ramos—a recent secondary title challenger—and Petr Petrov prior to entering the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) 140-pound tournament.

A career-best performance came of the quarterfinal round, which saw Baranchyk bludgeon then-unbeaten Anthony Yigit en route to a 7th round stoppage and the IBF junior welterweight title in their October 2018 affair. His reign was one and done, dropping a competitive but clear 12-round decision to eventual tournament winner Josh Taylor in their semifinal match last May on the road in Scotland.

Baranchyk has since rebounded with a one-sided fourth round stoppage over Gabriel Bracero last October in New York City.

 Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox